Golden Ticket heads contentious field in Cornhusker Handicap
ALTOONA, Iowa – The Grade 3, $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile test and the track’s most prestigious race, is set for a contentious group of eight, led by the tough graded stakes regular Golden Ticket.
Golden Ticket, based at Churchill Downs with trainer Ken McPeek, closed stoutly for second behind Goldencents in last season’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and has been narrowly beaten by Grade 1 winners Palace Malice and Moonshine Mullin this year.
Most recently, Golden Ticket, a lukewarm 3-1 favorite in the Cornhusker, came up empty when fifth June 14 in Churchill’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap and looks to bounce back Saturday night.
“The Cornhusker is a really good spot for him,” said McPeek. “He came out of the Foster in great shape, is one of the soundest horses in the barn, and I’m not worried about the two weeks.”
Golden Ticket will face stiff opposition from fellow stakes veterans Carve and Ground Transport.
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Carve, another arrival on a plane from Louisville, Ky., on Wednesday, made a favorable impression June 14 when cruising to a 3 3/4-length allowance win over Churchill’s one-turn mile. Trained by Brad Cox, Carve’s subpar effort when seventh May 16 in the Pimlico Special can be dismissed, and a return to the form exhibited April 12 in the Oaklawn Handicap – in which he was beaten by 1 1/4 lengths by Will Take Charge and Revolutionary – would put him in the thick of it. Jesus Castanon returns for the mount.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Carve. Trainer Brad Cox is 8 for 22 (73 percent in the money) with a $2.59 ROI over the past two years when he runs horses back in dirt routes within two weeks of their last race. – Mike Hogan Click for more details.
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Ground Transport, who will be guided by the meet’s leading rider, David Mello, for trainer Mike Stidham, is an established front-runner who can prove stubborn to pass. Back-to-back successes in Laurel’s $100,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Handicap and Belmont’s $100,000 Drosselmeyer Stakes this spring prove his credentials.
Right to Vote, a long-striding Political Force gelding, showed an affinity for this track when scoring by 1 3/4 lengths May 26 in the Cornhusker’s local prep, the $75,000 Jim Rasmussen Memorial Stakes. According to his trainer, Ron Moquett, Right to Vote has been thriving since and “pulling my rider’s arms off at home.”
Along with Golden Ticket, McPeek has sent Bellarmine to Altoona for his long-awaited return to stakes action. He looked sharp when dismissing five rivals by two lengths in a 1 1/6-mile allowance May 23 at Churchill.
“I hated to run Bellarmine and Golden Ticket in the same race, but between the two, we should do well as a stable,” said McPeek.
Alan Garcia visits here for the first time to ride him.
The lightly raced Coin Broker ran a solid third in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes in May, beaten 4 1/4 lengths by Foster winner Moonshine Mullin and Golden Ticket, and the Cornhusker seems an ideal fit for the Dale Romans trainee.
According to trainer Mike Maker, the Irish-bred Eriugena “did not handle the Belmont surface at all” June 7 in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap, and the deep closer could rebound.
Lent, a half-brother to 2012 Cornhusker and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned, makes his stakes debut for Fort Larned’s same connections: breeder-owner Janis Whitham, trainer Ian Wilkes, and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.
The Cornhusker is scheduled for 10:15 p.m. Central.